Prayer to Know Hope and Joy In The Middle of The Pandemic
Tuesday April 14, 2020
Here we are just a couple days into the Easter season. Although church services have ended the daily readings many of us go to during our times of prayer ad meditation keep us walking through those first hours and days of joy as people encountered Jesus alive and with them. Incredible and beyond belief and yet real. Great joy.
Joy is such an indicator of things being well. Sometimes there's a natural upspringing of it because of circumstances and sometimes we have to set our heart to focus on it in order to get through what is going on. Isn't this an incredible verse about Jesus and how He did this:
Heavenly Father, thank you for this Easter season where we can remember all the You've done for us through Jesus. Thank you today for His example to us of staying focused on what matters most during hard times in order to get through with joy. We're
determined to get through this time of pandemic but it's not always easy to see a way through that is filled with joy. We ask You to fill us with hope and peace today. We know that we need You to work in us so we can be patient in our troubles and prayerfully trusting.
Thank you also for the example of so many who've gone before us who found a way to be joyful even though severely tested by the troubles they had to go through. Help us to be like them and live with generosity every day, seeking to reach out and bless those who are poor in a variety of ways. Lord, our resources are so much
more than so many others - maybe not with money but with with the help and thoughtfulness of so many from the government on down to our friends and neighbours and those who are reaching out to us online. Help us to not only receive what we are being given by others but to be intentionally generous during this time. Show us responsible and sacrificial ways to do that. Thanks for the example we saw yesterday with the government of Alberta and their generosity in sharing from their stock of personal protective equipment with our province as well as Ontario and Quebec. Thank you for the joy we experience when we hear this kind of news and so many other simple one person taking care of another person stories all of us can share from our own circumstances.
Thanks for the laughter that bubbles up in us when we hear the laughter of little children, for an unexpected text or tweet from someone that brings a smile to our face, for phone calls with loved ones that touch our hearts, for the LOUD noise in my neighbourhood at 7pm each night as we bang our pot lids and give thanks to front line workers, for books to read and silly TV shows to watch, as well as for the inspiring concert online from Milan by for the amazing joy of being able to smell and taste - because we know that many impacted with the covid-19 virus lose both of those senses. Thank you for the freshness of laundry as we fold it, for all the crazy jokes and puzzles that are emerging on email and social media. And yes, Lord, for the joy of being able to purchase a package of toilet paper after many days of nothing being available when I went to the store. Thank you that we can breathe unaided today when so many cough and struggle to breathe.
Thank you God for the joy and hope we feel as we see the measures we are taking seem to be making a difference and infection rates and death rates levelling out in a number of areas around the world. Thank you for all the long term care homes and prisons where the virus has been slowed down or even stopped and the hope we have that so many more will get to this point too. Thank you for the hope we feel as some of the hardest hit countries begin to think about lowering the restrictions and opening up again.
Oh God, on this day of Easter hope we thank you for hope itself. Help us to focus on hope, rest in hope, be energized with hope, and be renewed in hope by you over and over again today so we can actually live in joyful hope today in the middle of this pandemic. Thank You God for being an unfailing source of hope and joy for us today. Amen
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Andrea Bocelli concert online yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTUOek4LgU
Thank you for joy, Lord Jesus.
Joy is such an indicator of things being well. Sometimes there's a natural upspringing of it because of circumstances and sometimes we have to set our heart to focus on it in order to get through what is going on. Isn't this an incredible verse about Jesus and how He did this:
Heavenly Father, thank you for this Easter season where we can remember all the You've done for us through Jesus. Thank you today for His example to us of staying focused on what matters most during hard times in order to get through with joy. We're
Thank you also for the example of so many who've gone before us who found a way to be joyful even though severely tested by the troubles they had to go through. Help us to be like them and live with generosity every day, seeking to reach out and bless those who are poor in a variety of ways. Lord, our resources are so much
Thanks for the laughter that bubbles up in us when we hear the laughter of little children, for an unexpected text or tweet from someone that brings a smile to our face, for phone calls with loved ones that touch our hearts, for the LOUD noise in my neighbourhood at 7pm each night as we bang our pot lids and give thanks to front line workers, for books to read and silly TV shows to watch, as well as for the inspiring concert online from Milan by for the amazing joy of being able to smell and taste - because we know that many impacted with the covid-19 virus lose both of those senses. Thank you for the freshness of laundry as we fold it, for all the crazy jokes and puzzles that are emerging on email and social media. And yes, Lord, for the joy of being able to purchase a package of toilet paper after many days of nothing being available when I went to the store. Thank you that we can breathe unaided today when so many cough and struggle to breathe.
Thank you God for the joy and hope we feel as we see the measures we are taking seem to be making a difference and infection rates and death rates levelling out in a number of areas around the world. Thank you for all the long term care homes and prisons where the virus has been slowed down or even stopped and the hope we have that so many more will get to this point too. Thank you for the hope we feel as some of the hardest hit countries begin to think about lowering the restrictions and opening up again.
/
Andrea Bocelli concert online yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTUOek4LgU
Thank you for joy, Lord Jesus.
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